


Not worth the war

by Sharraus



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Good Laufey (Marvel), Loki is diplomatic, Odin is not amuzed, Somewhat, Thor (Marvel) Being an Idiot, except Thor, people appreciate Loki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:41:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24682492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sharraus/pseuds/Sharraus
Summary: The visit to Jotunheim goes much better thanks to Loki´s effort and King Laufey´s mercy. Nevertheless, Thor still manages to put his foot in his mouth. Odin is less than pleased with his eldest son.
Relationships: Farbauti/Laufey (Marvel)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 161





	Not worth the war

Loki shut his eyes and gave the tiniest of sighs. He caught the look Hogun was giving him – almost begging him to talk some sense into his brother. Scoffing under his breath he briefly contemplated not doing anything, but decided against it. Thor’s ego was not worth the war that was sure to follow is they were to remain any longer. He took a step forward, keeping his eyes at the surrounding Frost Giants.

“Thor, stop and think. Look around you, we’re outnumbered...”

Thor snarled in a manner unbecoming of a crown prince. “Know your place, brother.”

Loki squeezed his eyes shut and counted to ten in order not to do the Jotun king a favour and stab his idiot brother himself. Know his place, really? He knew Thor was upset about the interrupted coronation, but he was taking it way too far. Even going to Jotunheim was taking it too far, as far as Loki was concerned, but when had his brother ever been sensible.

“You know not what your actions would unleash…” King Laufey spoke lowly, his eyes boring into Thor’s. “I do. Go now, while I still allow it.”

Loki mentally thanked their luck that the Jotun king was wiser than the stories would imply and grabbed Thor’s arm before he could get them killed. “We will accept your most gracious offer,” he spoke smoothly, inclining his head at the ruler. “Come on, brother...”

He pulled on Thor’s arm. A wave of relief washed over him when the older man turned and followed him to the door. Hogun sent Loki a small smile while Fandral and Volstagg merely shuffled after them – both itching for a fight, yet both aware of the odds stacked against them. And the threat of war hanging over their heads like a proverbial Sword of Damocles. Even Sif seemed to appreciate the peaceful resolution for once and she held no love for Loki or his ways.

“Run back home, little princess,” a low voice muttered somewhere behind them, the words echoing loudly in the tangible tension clouding the room.

Loki froze in his spot and shut his eyes one more time with a heavy sigh. “Damn,” he murmured, knowing Thor would never let something like that go. He could almost feel Hogun and Fandral both facepalm mentally as Thor’s hammer slid lower in his hand. He didn’t have to look to see the mad grin on his brother’s face.

“Thor, please,” Hogun said, surprising Loki. It’s been ages since he heard the black-haired Vanir protest something his companions did. “Don’t start a war.”

The slightly insane glint in Thor’s eyes told Loki he didn’t really hear his friend, even if he had turned his attention to him. He pulled on his arm harder. “Brother, think,” he whispered to him desperately. He needed to get through to him, now more than ever. “There’s six of us against an entire army.”

“There were four of us at Alfheim,” Thor opposed him and turned around, facing the group of Frost Giant nearest to the throne – the one from which the muttered insult came.

“Do remember how that ended up.” Loki tugged on his brother’s arm again. Despite himself, he was beginning to hope. Thor actually appeared to be listening for once. He ignored the vaguely amused look on the king’s face. “Don’t be daft, Thor, we have to  _ go _ ,” he hissed.

“Listen to your brother, young man,” King Laufey said. “His advice is wise.”

Loki didn’t have time to be flattered before Thor growled: “Who said I am wise?” and curled his hand around Mjolnir tighter.

Sif realized what was about to happen the same moment Loki did and yelled out a warning: “DUCK!” just as Thor chucked the hammer at the offending Frost Giants. It would have taken the head off of one had they not heeded her warning and got out of the way in time.

“BOY!” King Laufey yelled and got to his feet from his throne. Loki grasped his seax and gulped as the Frost Giants closed in on them, blocking their way to the door. Hogun was on his right side, eyes darting around.

Mjolnir returned to Thor’s hand and Loki grabbed his forearm before he could throw it at the king or do something equally stupid. His eyes met with the kings and he felt his mouth run dry at the unforgiving gaze of the blood-red eyes. They were screwed.

“You should’ve left while you had the chance,” King Laufey scowled at them. Loki agreed wholeheartedly. “It is too late now. Seize them!”

The soldiers advanced on them, ice-made weapons appearing in their hands seemingly from nowhere. They were not the crude long icicles Loki had imagined either – most of them anyway. In fact, they looked rather lovingly made, similar in design to what the Aesir would use.

He heard both Sif and Fandral freeing their swords as Hodun fingered his mace in his hand, extending the chain from the handle and changing it to a flail. His face was cloaked in such a grim expression Loki thought if they somehow made it out alive, Hogun would kill Thor himself. After their father had his turn, naturally.

Loki considered his options and swore under his breath. They were surrounded in a closed room on a hostile planet where Heimdall probably won’t open The Bifrost even if they could get to it. He drew his seax and let go of Thor’s hand.

His brother took it as a permission it was and launched his hammer at the king. To Loki’s surprise, none of the Frost Giants attacked while their king stepped aside. The hammer flew past him, slamming a hole through the throne before ramming into the wall behind it. Still no attack.

The hammer zipped back into Thor’s hand. The kings words caught up with Loki. He cursed and grabbed hold of Thor, while sheathing his own weapon. “Stay your hand, brother,” he muttered lowly.

Thor gave him a disbelieving look. He could imagine the same expressions on their companions’ faces. He nodded his head towards the soldiers that were encircling the tightly huddled group of Aesir in the middle of their 

throne room.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Sif hissed at him over her shoulder. “We’re past the bargaining point.” 

Loki’s eyes were focused on the king, ignoring the girl’s protest. No one’s died yet – not for a lack of trying, granted – so there might still be a way out. Laufrey didn’t seem in a hurry to see them executed at any rate. 

Unless he planned on torturing information out of them, but that didn’t sound right. He swallowed hard. The Jotun soldiers were an arm’s length away. The king’s attention was on him. This was likely their very last chance.

The door behind Laufrey slammed against the wall, shaking the windows. A tall woman with skin the colour of morning sky and storm coloured marking swept in. Her hair was short for a woman and it was stiff and wire-like. She wore the furs of wolves native to Jotunheim and a crown with their fangs as spikes. The queen of Jotuns.

Loki drew a shaky breath as Sif, Fandral and Volstagg looked over their shoulders to see the newcomer. He heard them all gasp, before snapping their mouths shut. 

“What’s the meaning of this?” she snapped and strode to her husband’s side, looking down on the Aesir in her throne room. Loki swallowed dry – if Laufey was menacing, Farbauti was downright terrifying.

Hogun nudged his side as thick silence fell over the room. Loki gulped one more time and, letting go of his brother’s arm, stepped forward. He could feel all eyes in the room return to him.

“Queen Farbauti,” he greeted the woman with a simple bow – he honestly had no idea what Frost Giants found proper and what was an offence so he dared not do anything flashy. “My brother merely had an inquiry for your husband. We were just about to head home.” He saw the king’s eyebrow rise to his hairline. Loki hoped the man wouldn’t call him out on the omitted information. And he really had meant to drag Thor away before one of Laufrey’s opened his mouth, so whose fault was it, in the end?

“Is that so?” the queen asked with a chilly voice. The Warriors Three and Sif all had the common sense to nod, but Thor was merely standing there like a useless lump of wood, watching King Laufey with the most hateful gaze. Maybe he was trying to set him on fire. Thankfully, Loki was the magician of the two of them.

“Have you found your answer, son of Odin?” she turned her attention to Thor.

“Not yet,” Thor growled without as much as looking at her. He seemed to recognize his mistake, however, as he tore his eyes from the king moments later.

“If you will allow,” Loki said slowly, taking the attention off his non-diplomatic sibling, “we will now remove ourselves from your realm.”

“Without answers?” the king questioned lightly and waved his hand dismissively. The soldiers retreated unhappily. Loki could swear he heard the poisonous laughter dripping from his words. Still, his chest filled with a hopeful feeling. He hadn’t called him out on his words! They might just make it out alive. He turned back to Laufey and met his eyes steadily.

“I don’t believe there are any to be found here.” Thor shifted beside him, but kept his mouth shut. Loki was rewarded by a slight upturn of the king’s lips. Norns, maybe they wouldn’t have to fight their way out!

King Laufrey levelled him with a heavy stare, then moved his eyes at Sif, who dropped her gaze immediately. Finally, his attention shifted to Thor and his hammer. A single word passed his lips, but the weight of it settled heavily on their shoulders: “Leave.”

Relief swept through Loki as he granted the royal pair another bow and dragged Thor out of the room. They were not about to be slaughtered by Frost Giants while declaring war! Fandral squeezed his shoulder shortly and Hogun petted his back. Loki knew that was as close to ‘thank you’ as he’d get with these people.

No one spoke as they made their way to where the Bifrost opened. Thor was in exactly as bad a mood as he’d been after the attack, but Loki honestly didn’t care that he was upset. Or offended. Coming to Jotunheim had been a stupid idea in the first place. It was Thor’s idea too, which is why Loki felt justly annoyed. Had he manipulated his brother into it like he’d done so many times before he’d not say a damn thing. But he hadn’t.

Loki knew they were being watched as they left the city and walked through the deep snow to the Bifrost. He didn’t really blame the Jotuns, Thor had almost started a war. He ran a hand through his hair in exasperation.

“Heimdall, open The Bifrost!” Thor thundered when they all stood inside the bridge. Almost immediately storm clouds started gathering above them, magical energy filling the air. None of Loki’s companions could tell, but there was something else there too. A strange unsettling feeling at his spine when they were taken from Jotunheim. It’d always been there, as far as Loki remembered, but for some reason, he felt more aware of it than ever before. He shuddered as the light cleared from his eyes and he found himself staring at the golden walls of the Observatory.

They were home. Alive. Without a declaration of war. His shoulders slumped in relief. He had avoided colossal disaster and he was tired. Heimdall gave him the tiniest nod of acknowledgement. So he had seen. Loki wasn’t really surprised, the man was the gatekeeper for a reason, after all.

“Why did you stop me!” Thor snapped, advancing on Loki with a furious expression. His hand was curled around Mjolnir, his knuckles white. Loki made a point of not sighing openly, in case Thor would actually hit him with the blasted thing. That made him no less irate, however.

“Because,” he forced out through clenched teeth, “you would get us all killed with your temper.”

“Some of us can handle ourselves in a fight, brother,” Thor seethed in his face. His face was rapidly turning red and Loki half expected foam to come out of his mouth. “Perhaps you should spend less time with your tricks and more time training if you are so afraid of a little fight.” 

It stung, Loki would admit to himself. Never to his brother, however. Instead he plastered a sneer on his face, snapping his fingers. Thor’s naturally blond hair was suddenly fiery orange to match his temper. Not that the older man noticed.

“Even if we’d somehow survive battle with  _ the entire Jotun army  _ what would happen after, huh?” he questioned his brother with a dark look. “We’d come home bearing news of a new far you’ve started? Directly defying father by going to the one place he told you not to? We could’ve died, you idiot. Worse, we could’ve started a war! Do you have so little regard for people you were meant to rule this morning?”

Loki knew he was working himself up there, but he couldn’t help it. Thor was being a massive idiot and he was not putting up with it anymore. Not if this bullheaded individual was to be the heir of the throne. Letting the Frost Giants in to disrupt the coronation was merely a joke; a plan to buy people of Asgard more time. 

“There would be no war,” Thor claimed with such conviction it left Loki stumped. 

“Do enlighten me; how do you imagine that,” he scoffed at his brother.

“There would be no Frost Giants left,” Thor spit out with gleeful hatred marring his features. Out of the corner of his eye, Loki saw the Warriors Three recoil at such statement in shock. Sif’s face was a picture of pure horror before she hid it behind her passive facade. Loki would be over the moon with them finally seeing Thor for what he was, if it weren’t for the fact that his brother had planned genocide.

“You would see an entire race eradicated,” he said slowly, looking his brother over. “For crime no bigger than attempted thievery.”

“Thor, you can’t be serious,” Fandral said, approaching the man. His face showed Loki exactly how much he doubted his own words. 

“I am deadly serious,” Thor hissed, not taking his eyes off his brother in silent challenge.

But Loki caught a movement at the entrance to the Observatory and shifted his attention. In the doorway stood, in all his might, Odin Borson, King of Asgard, Protector of the Nine Realms, the Allfather.  _ Their _ father. And he was furious.

Thor followed his glance almost instinctively and seemed to freeze at the enraged expression on their father’s face. Loki had to be fair there, he’d not seen the man in such a mood before either and he’d certainly been on the receiving end of more impressive glares from him than Thor had.

“Father,” Thor said, turning to face the king fully. Loki saw something flicker in his expression. Doubt. The mighty Thor was doubting his words or his actions. Perhaps both. About time too.

“Do you even realize what you are saying?” their father asked in a quiet voice that made Loki nervous. Odin Allfather was never calm and collected when furious. He shouted and yelled and roared. Or maybe he’d just never seen him really and truly wrathful.

He advanced at Thor, who took a step back on instinct. “Do you realize what you’ve planned? Do you realize the consequences?”

Thor set his jaw and Loki knew he was doomed. “It is the only way to protect our home.”

“Protect?” Odin spat. “Protect how? By murder and destruction? By slaughtering innocents?

“The Jotuns are NOT innocent!” Thor snapped, his temper getting the best of him again.

“How would YOU know?! YOU ARE JUST A CHILD! A VAIN, GREEDY, CRUEL BOY!” Odin roared, obviously done with being the level-headed one. He stood face to face with Thor.

“AND YOU ARE AN OLD MAN AND A FOOL!” Thor yelled back. “THE OLD WAYS ARE DONE!”

Odin looked his eldest son over with a look of barely concealed disgust. “Yes,” he said slowly. “I was a fool… To think you were ready.”

That might have been a good moment to speak up for his brother, but Loki stayed silent. He was still shaken from Thor’s violent reaction and his willingness to see thousands upon thousands of people dead. No matter they were Frost Giants, there were still women and children and old. He’d never think of doing something like that and he was supposed to be the one with less moral fibre.

“Thor Odinson, you have betrayed the express command of your king.” Odin drew himself up with solemn face. “You have proved yourself unfit as a ruler, you have proven yourself ferine and wicked.” He paused for a 

second before he started ripping away everything that made Thor and Asgardian. Loki winced with every word while Sif and the Warriors Three watched with shocked and horrified faces.

“You are unworthy of these realms! Unworthy of your title!  _ You're unworthy! _ Of the loved ones you have betrayed. I now take from you your power!” Finally Mjolnir flew out of Thor’s hand to Allfather’s outstretched one. Even Thor seemed to have caught on with what was happening – his face was a picture of pure dismay. “In the name of my father and his father before, I, Odin Allfather,  _ CAST YOU OUT!” _

The thunderous shout was accompanied by a roar of The Bifrost coming to life. It swallowed Thor in a blink of an eye and for a second Loki felt guilty for not speaking up. Then he remembered Thor’s words.

Next words whispered to the hammer were so low Loki was the only one who heard them. “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.” He looked at his father with surprise, only to see him launching the weapon into The Bifrost too. 

A way back, he realized seconds later as The Bifrost shut down. A way for Thor to return back to Asgard if he ever becomes worthy. Whatever that meant.

After a moment of deafening silence, the Allfather turned to Loki. Exhaustion and grief were written all over his face. Loki didn’t blame him in the slightest. “I understand we are not at war,” he spoke softly. Loki found himself calmed by the gentle nature of his words – tone usually reserved only for Thor.

He shook his head, deciding to not dwell on it overly much. “There were no deaths and no fighting. Laufey can only blame us for trespassing, but I doubt he’ll bring that up at any point. He allowed us to leave.” Several times, he added in his head, but decided his father didn’t necessarily need to know that. 

Then he grimaced as he remembered one little detail. “Thor put a hole in his throne with that hammer,” he explained at the questioning look. “Maybe even left a dent in the wall behind it.”

Odin sighed deeply. “Better the throne than someone’s head.” He stepped towards the bridge. “Come. I need to hear the whole story.”

Loki inclined his head and followed his father outside. He exchanged looks with his and Thor’s partners in crime. Fandral and Volstagg had yet to recover from Thor’s claims. Sif looked deeply troubled, ignoring her brother’s inquiries about her well-being completely. Hogun was the only one to actively seek out Loki’s gaze. His features were stone, but there were hard feelings in his eyes. Loki understood. Thor had just successfully knocked himself off the pedestal these four had put him on ages ago. He left the Observatory.

**Author's Note:**

> This is most likely a one-shot, unless I find myself with a clearer idea of how to proceed. Sorry if you want more, but you can still leave a comment to let me know.


End file.
